Are We Too Rich To Give? Series

When we think of those who are rich in a worldly and financial sense, most of us probably don’t put our own names at the top of the list. More often than not, we probably think of the rich as “those other people”—not ourselves. What if I were to tell you that most of you in this room today are rich? I’ll let you stew on that for a minute.

Here are some annual household incomes for other parts of the world.

Tajikistan $990

Nigeria $960

Cambodia $700

Ethiopia $560

Sierra Leone $530

(Source: InfoPlease.com, 1998)

Now, you might be thinking, “That’s fascinating, Tony. But neither of the groups you’ve shown us is anywhere close to where I am financially. They are the extremes.” Okay. I’ll give you that. Let’s look at one more group that’s a little closer to home. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has given the following U.S. annual income poverty levels for the year 2000.

Independent, Single Adult $ 8,416.40

Married Couple 11,339.80

Family of Three 14,263.20

Family of Four 17,186.60

Family of Five 20,110.00

What if I were to tell you that even people in the most depressed economic conditions, people who fall into the categories I just mentioned, could be considered rich. Now, you’re probably thinking, “Okay, Tony. We get it. You’re talking about people who are spiritually rich.” Although there are those who are spiritually rich and those who are economically rich, I’m still talking about only those who are rich in a worldly sense, those who are rich in possessions.

A Definition of “Rich”

All right. I’ve played with you long enough. I’m going to give you a definition of rich that may cause you to begin to think about wealth in a different way. I wish I could take credit for coming up with this definition, but I can’t.

The definition comes from John MacArthur. In his commentary on I Timothy 6:17, he defines the rich this way. “Those who are rich are not just those with the most expensive homes and the most expensive lands. To be rich is to have more than the mere essentials of food, clothing, and shelter. In today’s terminology, it means to have discretionary dollars” (MacArthur, p. 280).

Discretionary dollars would be any amount of money you have above the basic necessities—food, clothing, and shelter. Now, before you balk at this concept, we need to keep in mind that many of the things we consider to be necessities are only necessities to those living in the western world—at least most of the western world.

For example, if you lived in Spain and owned a clothes dryer, you would be in the top five percent of the homes in that country. Or, if you lived in Italy and owned a microwave oven, you would be in the top six percent of the homes in that country. How many of you have a dishwasher? Well, congratulations. If you lived in the Netherlands, you would be in the top eleven percent of the homes in that country. And these are all industrialized nations.

These statistics would be meaningless if you lived in most third-world countries because you wouldn’t have the electricity to run the appliances I just mentioned. You couldn’t drive to the other side of town where your rich friend has electricity because you wouldn’t own a car either. Well, maybe you could call someone for help. Wait a minute. The phone takes electricity, too, so that wouldn’t work.